


And I Can See for Miles

by AnandaRunner



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: AKA that summer camp AU nobody asked for, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Summer Camp, F/M, Mentions of other characters - Freeform, Rating May Change, age differences? what age differences?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-01
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-07 19:14:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26742715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnandaRunner/pseuds/AnandaRunner
Summary: The Skywalkers are the owners and managers of Starbird Ranch, a camp that runs eight 5-day camps throughout the summer, for kids in the foster system, up for adoption, or from families that are struggling. It's good work, but hard; the pay is barely enough to be taxable, the hours are miserable, and the college kids on staff go to bed every night worn completely out.Last summer, Ben spent his days sitting atop the 45 ft tower of their rock climbing wall, shepherding screaming kiddos down a zip line. But after a fallout between the Skywalkers and the camp's former director -- and an accident on the ropes course -- Ben was reassigned to manage the camp kitchen so Leia can be the new director, and a new girl is brought in to fill Ben's old position.The summers in Niima are hot... and so is Rey. Ben is doomed.
Relationships: Minor or Background Relationship(s), Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 4
Kudos: 10





	And I Can See for Miles

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is *very very loosely* based on my summers working at a camp in Texas while I was in high school. There's a hell of a lot of liberties taken with a lot of safety and geography here, but the ropes course stuff is pretty accurate from my time there.

“Ben, Starbird Ranch has been in our family for--”

“Three generations. I know, Mom.”

“If you _know_ , then I shouldn’t have to tell you what we need you to work here this summer,” Leia says, exasperated. “We have a hard enough time staffing the camp as it is.”

Ben squints at her skeptically. “I saw the shift board in the registration office. You’ve already filled my old spot.”

“On the tower? Yes, we did. But now we’re short in the kitchens.”

“In the--” he pauses, pacing her office. He drags a hand through his long hair, then points. “I could help in groundskeeping and maintenance instead.”

Leia shrugs. “If you don’t want the tower, the kitchen is what’s left. The girl who’s taking the tower switched out of the kitchen to fill _your_ spot for me, so now her spot is open. Take it or leave it, Ben.”

“Who is she?” he asks, ignoring her jab. “Anyone I know?”

“No, she’s new; a local girl from Niima. I think one of the others recommended her, one of Poe’s friends.”

“I didn’t know Poe had friends,” Ben jokes. “He here yet?”

“Not yet, been waiting for him all morning,” Han answers from the door.

“Hey, Dad. How’s the new cabins coming? Chewie said you finished clearing another plot last week.”

“Ah, yeah, he’s tired of hauling brush,” his dad laughs, “but the cabins look nice. Probably make the ones in the front lots look like they need to be demolished.”

“Why not repaint them? We’ve got a full crew and no campers for the first week, right?” Ben asks, looking between his parents.

“Pitch it to Luke tonight.”

That pulls Ben up short. “Noooo, no no. He’ll say no just because it’s my idea.”

“Fine, fine. I’ll mention it, but you have to manage the project _and_ the crew,” Han half-laughs, “whether Luke likes it or not.”

* * *

At the orientation dinner, Ben sits at the back of the room near the door, watching the others as they listen to Han’s slightly rambling presentation.

The new staff members had arrived throughout the day in groups of two and three -- most of them already friends before they were hired. Poe, Snap, and Jess had carried over their agreement from last year, and somehow convinced their friends that slaving away in the middle of nowhere was a good way to spend their summers.

He knows some of them via Poe -- who has said for years that he needs to, quote, “get a fucking life already, Solo,” and made sure to drag him to any mildly public social outing -- so he recognizes Kaydel, Bastian, and Finn; but the others are new, all of them friends of Poe’s sort-of-but-not-quite boyfriend.

Rose and Jannah, sitting behind Finn, had become fast friends: shared assignments and mutual interests in animals kept them talking, each new bit of info drawing another excited gasp and giggle.

Their final new hire, the local girl, had taken a seat along the back wall just as Ben had, her posture somewhat tight even as she smiled gently but reluctantly when Leia greeted her. But as soon as Finn noticed, he'd dashed to her seat and all but dragged her to sit beside him -- even nudging Poe and the others over in the process -- and after a few minutes grinning softly and nodding at Finn's animated conversation, Ben had seen her start to relax and engage with the others.

"Since our campers are kids, we all have to get CPR certs this week--" Ben tunes his dad out, overly familiar with every word of the spiel by now.

Watching the crew bond and connect, he can't help feeling a small twinge of nostalgia for friends who hadn't returned this year; after 3 years of working side by side with Hennix, Tai, and Voe, he couldn't help but miss them. But Tai and Voe had found "real jobs" at the rundown movie theater for the summer, and Hennix had moved east to some small town where they farm pine trees and was working at a camp there instead, so Ben made a mental note to email them later and gently shoved his fond memories to the back of his mind for now.

"Anyway, I keep getting off-track here," Han says with a chuckle, "so, assignments. A couple of you -- Jess, Poe, Snap -- you're still in the same spots as last year: grounds for the three of you, kitchen for Snap, and lifeguard duty for Poe and Jess."

A round of elbows nudged into ribs and high-fives and smothered laughter from those three forces Han to pause, until a well-aimed ketchup packet lands on Poe's head and he quiets, throwing an apologetic glance at Luke (who, for his part, casually studies his fingernails as if he couldn't _possibly_ be guilty of something so childish as throwing _ketchup_.)

Han cleared his throat, looking back to the assignment sheet on the clipboard in his hand. "With me, on the ropes course, I've got Finn, Bastian, and Rey. Kaydel will be joining the _prank squad_ on grounds with me & Chewie -- sorry in advance for these three, kid."

"I've got 4 brothers, Mr Solo, and I know _all_ of Poe's weaknesses. I'll be fine," Kaydel replies with a smirk.

"Not _all_ of them--"

" _Mister Solo?_ I'm not that old, am I?"

Another ketchup packet flies through the air, sailing just over Han's head, and Ben has to stifle his laughter.

"Stay on topic, _old man_ ," Luke insists.

"Moving on," Leia says, side-eyeing her brother.

"Despite my better judgement I'm putting Poe in charge of the lifeguard team," Han continues, "so Finn, Jess, Rose, Jannah: good luck, or something."

Poe's hand raises into the air slowly, and Ben thinks he's jumping at Han's bait until: "What about Benny? I thought he was on ropes?"

Ben ducks his head just as Han and Poe both look back at him. A beat, then two, and Ben is starting to think he'll have to actually answer when his mother speaks up.

"He's asked to transfer into the kitchen this year, so he'll be picking up some of my responsibilities while I take over admin of the camp since we're without a director," she says.

"What about--" Poe starts, but Leia interrupts again.

"Dameron, I understand you have questions, but now _really_ isn't the time."

Leia's tone left no room for argument, to Ben's relief. But when Poe turned in his seat to look back at him, he couldn't hold his friend's gaze, focusing instead on the scrawny trees fighting against the wind outside.

The fallout between his family and Starbird's former director had been nearly catastrophic for the camp -- even after he was removed from his position they had to face threatening letters, stalking, attempted blackmail… It took months of restraining orders and finally lawsuits to get the bastard to back off, only for him to die in a gas explosion that took out his house.

The old asshole was dead, and Ben would never get any kind of _closure_ for the shit he went through that summer -- the harassment, the accident, any of it -- but there was a certain kind of peace that came from knowing he was finally free of him even if almost no one knew the details behind the confrontation.

_Was the accident_ really _Sheev's fault?_ He asks himself late at night, sometimes. _After all, it was_ you _who was supposed to tie those knots, not him. Are you really going to blame someone else for that?_

He shakes his head stiffly to clear the fog. 

"--repainting the West cabins -- the ones nearest to the front of the property -- to make them look more like the new buildings in the other sections." Han turns to look pointedly at Luke before continuing, "Ben is going to manage the crew and its assignments, so he'll go over all of that with you tomorrow morning."

Luke shrugs, looking to Ben. "Can you handle that, kid? Managing the whole project and getting it done before camps start?"

"Of _course_ I can," he snaps, scowling at his uncle. _Trust Luke to try to embarrass me in front of everyone on top of the other awkwardness earlier_.

A scoff is the only reply Ben gets from the man, and accepts that as better than the alternative of further casual mockery.

"Ooooooookay," Han draws the word out absurdly, eyeing between them. "Right. Well, Ben: you and the team can have Chewie help you get the supplies from the garage tomorrow. 

"For now that's all I've got for you guys. Take the evening to relax and settle in; breakfast is at 7." He claps his hand against the side of his clipboard a couple times, leaning down to speak to Leia as everyone tucks their chairs under and wanders toward the wide double doors of the dining hall exit. 

Ben tries to catch Han's eyes but his father waves him off impatiently; he's to carefully ignore the weight of his uncle's stare when Poe steps up in front of him, hands in his pockets and faking his relaxed posture.

"You wanna catch me up on what everybody's _not_ talking about, Benny?" his friend presses.

"I thought I asked you not to call me that anymore," he replies, trudging out of the hall. He can see the rest of Poe's friends glance back at them expectantly before giving up and returning to their own chatter.

"Old habits," Poe quips. "But seriously, man -- last summer, everything was fine and dandy and now? Now I come back here and you've given up your perch and traded it in for a spatula. What the hell, man?!"

Stepping out to the warm summer breeze is a relief after the atmosphere in the meeting, but Ben is no less ready for this conversation now than he was before. The wind kicks up these little eddies of dust as it blows -- just enough to keep everything left outside more than a few hours coated in a fine layer of grit (or with time, wear away a perfectly respectable coat of paint until the buildings are weathered beyond their years) -- and he tracks one of the curling wisps of air as if it were a living thing, buying himself some time.

He _thunks_ the heel of one boot against the toe of the other, appreciating the dull thud of the steel-toe reverberating up his shin, and doesn't look up as he speaks. "We've been friends a long time, Poe -- so I need you to trust me when I say I'll tell you later. I can't get into it now," he pauses to hold up a hand when he senses Poe winding up to try to argue, "not for legal reasons, or whatever. Just… I personally can't right now."

Poe is uncharacteristically quiet for a brief minute. But then he nudges at Ben's shoulder, steering him toward the house they'll all be sharing for the next 10 weeks. "All right, man. It's fine. Just, y'know, let me know if you need anything, yeah?"

Ben risks a look to gauge his response. His friend looks skeptical, but concerned; the judgment he was expecting isn't waiting behind those eyes.

_That'll come later,_ Ben thinks. _Once he knows the whole story._

* * *

Ben hauls himself out of his bed at 4:30 the next morning and quietly curses himself for agreeing to run the kitchen, blearily working his way through getting ready for the day with the weight of the knowledge that he's staring down an unending string of days filled with gallons of coffee, fryer burns, and supply-order papercuts.

He settles on the easy staple breakfast for their first day -- bacon, eggs, biscuits -- since it takes little attention to prepare and just as little cleanup. Tomorrow the ones assigned to the kitchen can help, and he'll train the others as the week goes on.

Today, they can have a little extra sleep that they can look back fondly on as the long days go by.

The coffee is, predictably, terrible. If it weren't the only thing keeping him from getting a faceful of the eggs on his tray, he'd forego it completely.

Everyone seems to have grouped up much in the same way as they had the night before, and Ben can already tell the newer members are going to fit in fine. (He feels relief he hadn't expected; they'd had hirees before that basically refused to mesh with the team and inevitably quit and it's always difficult to train someone on the fly in the middle of the summer.) But he notes curiously that his dad and the girl who filled his place on the Ropes crew -- _Rey_ , he remembers -- had slipped out at some point, likely to get her used to the feel of the course and equipment.

He finishes before the others, washing up the empty trays as they came in as another first-day favor to the rest, and then returns to the hall to find them all waiting for him.

_Right._

He pulls a folded paper from his pocket and passes it to Poe. "This is the list of stuff we'll need today. Take one of the golf carts and the little trailer to the garage to get it all, and then head to cabin 2 since that's where we're starting. If for some reason you're wearing anything that can't get paint on it, go change and meet back there by 8:30; that should be enough time to round everything up." He grins at them with the tiniest bit of evil in his eye. "Last one to show up has to clean the deep fryer tomorrow."

Poe and the other veteran staff cackle wildly at the confused looks from the newbies -- it certainly wouldn't be one of them getting stuck playing grease junkie, they'd had their turn of near-humiliating hours futilely trying to completely clean the oil reservoirs. It's practically a rite of passage to face down that particular beast, and excellent opportunity to use horror stories as incentive to be on time.

* * *

Ben finds his dad at the foot of the open side of the climbing tower, outfitted in his harness with the belay rope feeding through the heavy carabiners -- the tail end held down behind his back right pocket in a brake position, at the lead reaching up and up where Ben knows it gets tied off in a simple but durable double bowline and anchored to the other climber.

He ignores the dull ache in his chest, his hands all but feeling the heavy ropes between his fingers, calloused from the days he spent practicing his ties until he could do them without a glance.

"Hey Dad, I need to borrow Rey," he says. He has to wrangle his hair back out of his face as it whips in the wind. "We really need to get started painting if we're going to be done before the first camp starts next week. I sent Poe to get everything from the garage."

"Sure thing, just a second." Han answers without looking over; his eyes are trained on a figure leaning out from the upper platform as he shouts, "All right Rey, go for it!" 

Ben follows the rope up and up, looking toward the top of the tower, shielding his eyes from the harsh sun. The girl pushes off with her legs, swinging wide to land smoothly on the lower platform. She jumps off again, belaying downward quickly to land on one foot at Han's side, and Ben can't resist the urge to clap in encouragement. Her answering grin lights up her entire face and she jokingly bows acceptance. 

"Wow," Ben says. "You're really good at that." 

"Thanks. It's my favorite part, aside from the view." He watches her hands as they deftly undo the bowline, and silently praises her quick rope coiling technique.

"You don't worry about hitting the platform? Or the ground?"

"Why would I? It's kind of fun, daring gravity to take hold only to deny it." 

"She knows what she's doing, Ben; leave her alone," Han grumbles. 

Ben raises his hands defensively. "I'm not giving her a hard time; I'm mostly impressed to be honest. But we need to get going and meet everyone over at cabin 2."

As if on cue, the radio on Han's belt squawks for attention and Luke's voice comes through. "Han, did you know Ben has already sent Poe to handle this instead of doing it himself?"

Han winces, and Ben has to stifle the urge to grind his teeth as his dad replies. "Yeah, Luke, delegating is part of being in charge. Lighten up a little."

Ben sighs. "All right, well… now that he thinks I'm shirking my responsibilities or whatever he wants to say this time, I guess we should get going. He's probably going to invent some reason to _supervise_." 

"Don't worry," Rey says with a laugh, "you can tell him you came to get me. That I got lost or something. Blame it on the newbie." She grabs her water bottle from beneath the tower's shade and they wave at Han as he heads to put the equipment away.

"I appreciate that," Ben says, "but Luke has a nose for bullshit. Especially my bullshit, real or imagined."

She laughs again, grinning sideways at him. He really likes that look on her face, he decides.

It's not a long walk from the tower to cabin 2, but Rey is probably the new staffer he knows the least about, so Ben decides to try an angle he usually avoids altogether: smalltalk.

"What made you decide to come work here, of all places?" he asks. He kicks at a rock, making it skitter away. "The pay is pathetic, the hours are terrible, and the management is questionable at best." The last he says with a hint of a smirk since she knows by now that his family runs the place.

"Well, Finn told me about the job. I was already looking for something this summer and since Starbird is local it was an easy enough decision." When they reach the rock, further along the street, Rey kicks it too. "Besides, the camp's mission lines up nicely with my own career goals so that's a bonus for me. I'd like to help kids and families navigate the utterly absurd red tape that sometimes comes up during fostering and adoption."

"Oh?" Ben studies her face. "That definitely lines up with what we try to tackle here. A lot of the kids that come here are from… well, not necessarily _bad_ families, but just ones that need help. If they have families at all, that is. We try to give them some time and experiences they might not get otherwise."

He playfully passes their kicked rock sideways, watches her toned calves flex as she draws back one leg and sends it bouncing into the grass with a well-aimed kick. The row of buns on the back of her head bounces with the effort.

"I know," she replies, looking up at him. "That's why I applied for the job."

She takes a long drink from the water bottle, and then pours a generous amount right on top of her own head, shaking as it slides its way down her skin.

The thin cotton of her staff shirt clings with the water's weight, and Ben has to make himself look away to quell the heat rising to his face.

_This is going to be a very long summer_.

**Author's Note:**

> come yell at me on [tumblr](http://redsithbluesith.tumblr.com/)


End file.
